Good morning! No better way to start the day than with a strong cup of coffee, a toasted piece of multigrain and a clip of Focus on the Family's lead hatemonger James Dobson looking like a total asshat.

On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart discussed Dobson's recent criticism of Barack Obama's quoting of dusty old Leviticus to suit his own "personal agenda". Stewart of course digs up footage of Dobson quoting the same passage, in order to use the Bible to condemn gays.

Gay marriages started in California yesterday (in case you haven't heard), and like with all major news stories, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show had the final, and funniest, word.

Jon starts out talking about the first marriage being performed "and yet, the state of California ... continues ... to ... exist". He then follows it up with the kicker, "BTW, if gay people are getting married in California, why is God taking it out on people in the Midwest?" He cracks wise about the historic implications, and makes a hilarious joke (which only he and Fran Drescher could get away with) about Jewish mothers, and then moves on to George Takei and his glistening abs (you'll have to watch the above clip to understand).

The second clip is the usual Daily Show shenanigans, with correspondents John Oliver and Jason Jones (both of whom I have serious crushes on) milking the situation for all it's worth, which includes John's soon to be oft-repeated line "I want to be sodomized by your constitution".

You can see the second clip after the break, and kudos to The Daily Show for once again cutting through the B.S. of homophobia and finding the humour in its stupidity.

In this week's episode of Angry Puppy, Marc and Lee talk about breaking television news, gay sci-fi film fests, Buffy season Eight, the Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures, and much, much more.

Oh, and they speak Esperanto. Wanna know why? Check it out!

Happy Birthday, John Barrowman!

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Gus van Sant's Sean-Penn-starring Milk wrapped shooting in San Francisco this past weekend, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt a few different handfuls of snaps. Anyone else think it looks like Cruising without the Crisco?

• Exactly how many times did Neil Patrick Harris say "vagina" during the Q&A for Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at SXSW? And while we're on the subject, the pic got a near rave from Variety, who called it "one of the ballsiest comedies to come out of Hollywood in a long time."

• J.K. Rowling again expressed her shock that anyone would be bothered by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore's being gay, adding, "I think homophobia is a fear of people loving, more than it is of the sexual act."

• Stephen Colbert spun comedy gold out of the Governor Eliot Spitzer scandal (notice how no one is calling it a "Straight Sex Scandal!"), including noting that his "whoredar" failed him and that he is the prostitute who engaged Spitzer, but that most of his $4300 hourly fee went to his pimp, Jon Stewart.

• Twittering from SXSW, Whitney from Popcandy had this to say about the new comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which stars Veronica Mars' Kristin Bell and How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel): "It was funny throughout with repeated full-frontal male nudity and awesome puppet vampires!" Finally, someone has made a film out of my ongoing inner monologue.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

Despite the fact that there were no gay characters, gay-themed films, or out actors up for major awards at last night's Oscars, the ceremony managed to be surprisingly gay regardless ... and no, I'm not talking about the 347 musical numbers from Enchanted that perforated the evening.

Most notably, the night was capped by a touching moment for gay visibility. Upon accepting the award for Best Picture for No Country for Old Men, producer Scott Rudin made a point of thanking his partner, John Barlow, by name, and referring to him as "honey". Rudin's reputation as a demanding boss is downright legendary, but he is also responsible for bringing films like The Hours, Clueless, In & Out, Wild Tigers I Have Known, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and more to the screen, and I can't remember another time where the man accepting the award for Best Picture thanked his husband.

Another big moment came when filmmakers Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth accepted their award for Best Documentary short for the film Freeheld. The film tells the story of a terminally ill lesbian's battle to have her pension transferred to her partner, and upon accepting the award the two women made a touching plea for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Aside from these moments (between these, David Hyde Pierce's Tony speech, Jodie Foster's awards shout-out and Tina Fey's Emmy speech from last year, awards acceptance speeches are the hot vehicle for gay visibility!), the Jon Stewart-led telecast featured a few other queer highlights and a wonderfully irreverent sensibility overall. My other favorite moment was Jon related that backstage, the Best Original Song winners for Once made their Oscar statues kiss and that when one said, "they're both men" the other noted, "this is Hollywood!" From the looks of this pic, the winners in the acting categories had no such qualms.

Anyone else have any favorite moments? Tilda Swinton's hilarious swipe at George Clooney and Gary Busey attacking Jennifer Garner on the red carpet were definitely the highlights for me. And the fact that movies like Fletch and Top Secret were used in Oscar montages?! Awesome.

The full list of winners is after the break...

We've been grousing that this year's Oscars are the straightest in recent memory, which may be a turnoff for some gay movie/awards show/red carpet lovers. So here are a few simple suggestions to make your Oscar viewing the Gay! Gay! Hollywood! celebration that we love and deserve.

1. Pretend all non-married nominated characters are gay

Remember back before there were gay characters on screen and audiences had to dig for gay subtext with a pickaxe and night goggles? Well, here we are again. So for the purposes of getting through the night alive, pretend that Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, Anton Sigurh from No Country for Old Men, and the old guy from Into the Wild are gay.

Hey, for once not all the gay characters are psychos or and don't all have to die! Sweet...

2. Gay celebrity drinking game

Want to save on your champagne budget this year? Make a drinking game out of every time the broadcast show an out gay man. Granted, this will likely happen only once or twice during the show, depending on whether or not shut-out Hairspray director Adam Shankman could snag a ticket on eBay. So don't blink! 

Hairspray's Nikki Blonsky and Adam Shankman 

3. Rename the nominees with gayer titles

To gay up the fun, refer to the nominees by these titles throughout. (Those who forget go through the spanking machine!)

There Will Be Boy Butter

No Country for Trolled Men

Michael Clay Aiken

Queeney Todd: The Demon Hairdresser of Fleet Street

A Toned Man 

The Diving Bell and the Butt Pirate 

Get Me Away From Her 

What Ever Happened to Baby Juno? 

The Character Assassination of Jesse James by the Bossy Bottom Robert Ford 

4. Stack the deck

Watch the Oscars with as many gay people as possible, for maximum effect. Chances are it will be playing at  your local gay bar/community center/coffee shop/dungeon, so if you don't have any gays at the ready to help you make it through the broadcast, go find some new ones. Safety in numbers! 

Here's an intriguing headline: Monday night's ratings for The Daily Show were down 15 percent from its last original episode while The Colbert Report's ratings were up by 11 percent. Surprising enough as it is, but the story gets even more interesting when you look at the ratings for both shows before the strike: in October, 30% of The Daily Show viewers didn't stick around for The Colbert Report.

That's something I'm having a hard time understanding. I tend to think of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as one show interrupted by a bonus theme song. I even have the DVR programmed to record an extra half-hour of The Daily Show so that both shows are recorded together. (That way I don't have to worry about the trade-off between Jon and Stephen getting interrupted by the DVR interface.) Apparently, nearly a third of Daily Show viewers don't feel the same way.

Adding to my puzzlement, both my partner and I are bigger fans of Colbert with its more satirical character, not to mention Colbert's ability to deliver very sharp remarks to a guest while phrasing it like a compliment. The format allows the Report to have a stronger voice. And Stephen's fake pundit has been nabbing press with fun little stunts like the metaphor-off with Sean Penn, his anti-Hungarian comments and his presidential run. I'm surprised that so many people can tune in for The Daily Show and not stick around for Stephen's antics afterwards.

Then again, could our preference for Colbert be partly based in his gay humor and for his over the top and - dare I say it - campy persona? Maybe we enjoy the Report a little more because of a gay sensibility? (It's worth noting that Colbert's first guest after a 10-week absence was outspoken gay political writer Andrew Sullivan.)

That has me wondering about how AfterElton.com readers get their nightly dose of fake news. Do you watch both shows or do you tune in for just Jon or Stephen? Then again, maybe you like the unintended comedy of Bill O'Reilly. The hilarity of lines like "Was this a negligee situation?" can be hard to beat for some people...

(Thanks to the No Fact Zone for the pointer.)

Last Friday we posted on the writer's strike and its potential impact on some gay fave TV shows.

The walkout officially began on Monday. It's the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988. That strike lasted five months, and a lot of folks believe the current walkout could last as long or longer. The battle between the writers and the studios boils down to compensation for digital delivery of content. (Just before the strike, the union dropped its other demand for increased compensation for DVD sales - but got no counteroffer/concession from the studios on the digital issue.)

Both sides are digging in their heels and settling in for a long fight. We have some more specific information as to how that will affect some of your favorite shows:

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. These two gems are already in repeats. If the strike drags on into 2008, Comedy Central has hinted that The Daily Show show might come back in a predominantly interview driven format. (There's an important election coming up and the nation will need its fake news!).

Note: on Monday there was a story circulating that, even though his show has been shut down, Jon Stewart would personally be paying his writers their salaries for the next two weeks. Turns out that is not in fact the case. Stewart's reps have denied the rumor.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) contract expired last night, and talks between the studios and the writers have broken off — with no talks rescheduled. Even more ominous, the WGA has asked members to show up at the LA Convention Center tonight at 10:00pm for an "announcement."

It looks almost certain that there will be a writers' strike. The sticking issues? First, the writers want a bigger cut of the increasingly lucrative DVD market. The current formula, set in 1985 to deal with videocassette sales, gives writers about four cents for every DVD sold. The WGA wants a new formula that would essentially double that. Second and possibly more important, the WGA wants a share in the profits for internet broadcasts. The studios say they want to table that discussion until the internet market is "more mature."

Neither side appears willing to give ground, which is making a walkout seem inevitable. And if a similar strike in 1988 is any example, this thing could drag on for months.

So, what would a strike mean to television viewers (and gay television viewers in particular)?

First to be affected would be talk shows. As early as next week there would be no more David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, or Jay Leno.

Regis & Kelly and the ladies of The View might still go "live," but if they do they'll be ad libbing all their own material. (Oh the horror!)

Also immediately impacted: Saturday Night Live. Amy Poehler says the show has no backlog of scripts so, “Boom — our show just shuts down.”

Worse in my mind, we'd also immediately lose The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The Bush administration might be cheering this turn of events, but the rest of us will need to get our daily fix of Stewart and Colbert via Comedy Central's online video archive.

But that's just the beginning.